10
by Becksaurus
Summary: Steve Rogers has faced a god, the Nazis, and terrorists. If anyone has a chance of figuring out what's going on within SHIELD and how to stop it, it's Captain America. Yet, he's pulled from the STRIKE team to keep watch on a stubborn headed college student. Fury specifically assigned him to the task which leads Steve to believe there's a reason she's on SHIELD's radar.


I recognized him the second he stepped onto the floor. I could barely recognize the girls I was with because of the purple, pink, green, and blue strobe lights but he stuck out like a sore thumb. He wasn't dressed right, wearing a Yankees T-shirt under a black sweater, and he eased his way through the crowd like he was maneuvering through a pool of electric eels. I watched him carefully as he scanned the crowd. He hadn't seen me yet.

Two weeks ago I first noticed him in the library. I was pouring over my accounting notes and trying to make sense of my rushed handwriting and sloppy T-charts when I looked up for a moment to get a break. He was sitting in one of the chairs in the cluster by the reference books. He had some book open on his lap but didn't seem all that interested in it. I wasn't all that interested in him so I went back to my notes. I'd never seen him before that day but suddenly I was seeing him a lot around campus. When I came out of class the next day, he crossed right in front of me. The day after, he went jogging past my parking lot. I could pick him out of the throng of students on the green easily. He is older than most of us, it's clear in his face, and that always draws my eyes. My friends all still have round, baby faces and when they grow facial hair it's scraggly and funny looking. This man's face is clean shaven but he has hard jaw lines that would only come from age. He also has a shock of pale hair and that's how I usually spot him. Otherwise, he blends well. He's always been wearing something a college kid would wear; sweats, crushed T-shirts, and hoodies. But I have a good memory for faces and I've been seeing his more and more frequently than can be coincidental. His ever presence didn't begin to worry me until three days ago when he popped up at my park district's pool when I was swimming laps with my brother. My school is close to fifty miles away from home and I live in a teeny, little suburb where it would have been highly improbable of me never having seen him around before. And now he's here at a club where he looks like he'd never want to be and dressed like he wasn't intending to come here.

Penny flicks my arm and then follows my gaze. "He's sexy!" she mouths and bumps her tiara back onto her head.

I nod and bite my tongue.

She nods her head back at him. "Go get it!" She knows I won't. My cheeks would be burning right now if she said that about any other guy that wasn't following me.

I don't know if he saw Penny's gesture or his ears were just burning because we were talking about him, but out of the corner of my eye I see him glance our way. He doesn't move towards us but towards the edge of the room where less people are dancing. I lose sight of him for a moment when he's directly behind me and for a split second I feel the icy creep of panic, thinking he'll just appear at my back. I feel someone approach and my back gets rigid. A large and very much masculine hand grips my hip and I jump. Penny's cousin, Sara I think, sees my reaction and reaches her hand out to casually twirl me over to her side.

It's not my sandy haired stalker but a man I still am glad to be away from. Everything about him screams sleazy, from his slicked back hair to the tattoo on his neck. I stay between Penny and Sara as the other girls close up our circle. I rock back and forth on the balls of my feet while I search the room for the blonde guy. He hasn't moved though. He's leaning against a pillar, watching the guy who'd tried to dance with me like a steely gaze. When he turns back, we make eye contact for maybe the first time. I'm blinded for a second by a flash of blue light, but when I can see again he's still watching me. He doesn't make a move to come closer, even though I've made it clear that I see him, and he doesn't move away either. I grow angry quick. I'm angry because I'm scared. He's seen my brother and now my friend and all of her friends. He's not about to hurt them.

I inch away from the group of girls, breaking eye contact with the blonde but watching him with my peripherals. Penny smirks at me when her gaze flickers between me and the blonde. She makes a crude gesture that makes my face burn despite the situation and then turns back to her bridesmaids.

I weave my way through the mass of sweaty bodies to the back of the room below the DJ's loft where the bathrooms are. I slip past the oriental curtain acting as a door and wait behind a stall door.

When I hear the curtain swoosh, I hop up onto the cracked toilet seat so he can't see my feet. I hold my breath until I see the heels of his shoes under the door of the further stall. With butterfly light steps I get behind him, gripping the knife I brought in my right hand and my phone in my left.

The sound of a gun cocking echoes off the tile floor. "Move and I kill you" I say, trying to keep my voice steady. I can't see his face which makes me very nervous, but he doesn't try to move. Quickly, I come up with a plan in case he does. "Why are you following me?"

"I'm not here to hurt you" he says. His voice is soft and very unlike that of a stalker. "I'm protecting you."

I don't buy it for a second. "Who are you?"

"My name is Steve Rogers." His back is still to me and he sounds calm, but that keeps me on edge. I don't like how he sounds like he has this under control. I'm the one that needs to be in control here. "I'm Captain America."

In my head I quickly compare the two faces. I'd only seen quick pictures of Captain America after the attack in New York and he was wearing his mask in most of them or his face was dirty. Still, there were enough attributes to match them.

His toe starts to turn. "I said don't move!" I shout. I'm surprised no one has walked in yet, not because we are loud but because it's a club and the bathroom should be packed. Unless this guy isn't alone and he has someone else keeping people away from here. I start planning for that situation.

"Kaylee it's ok. I'm a good guy" he tries.

"I couldn't care less. You've been following me for weeks. Now tell me why."

He sighs and for a moment my heart stops, thinking he's growing bored of this and will just kill me now. I grip my knife a little tighter.

"I work for S.H.I.E.L.D. They brought all of the Avengers together two years ago so we could save New York and the rest of the world. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s director sent me here to watch over you."

"Why?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know" I say incredulously. "Then I don't trust you."

He doesn't say anything for a moment. The air is thick with tension. For a moment there's only the thumping of the bass coming through the walls. "Then what do you want to do?"

I don't have an answer for that. If he has more people then they'd kill me if I killed him and tried to walk away. And I believe he is Captain America, which means I'd never be able to kill him or even fight him off long enough to get away. I'm not going to be able to just stand here with him forever either.

"Would you let me walk away?"

"I'm not going to hurt you."

I shake my head even though he can't see. "But will you leave me alone?"

"I can't do that. There's a reason I'm here."

I grit my teeth. I don't really have an option. There's nothing I'll be able to do to get Captain America to stop tailing me. I settle for a deal instead. "Then I want to know everything."

He hesitates for a moment as well but then nods. "That's fine."

I grip my knife tight enough to leave my knuckles white. "You can turn around."

I try to look at his face and find reasons to trust him. No assassin would have soft eyes like that or have that concerned crease between his eyes. He eyes my knife looking not at all intimidated but confused. "I thought you had a gun?"

I hold my phone up for him to see. "There's an app" I say in lieu of an explanation. He looks confused and I remember that he really is a man out of time. I pity the man who's been stalking me just a little bit.

He glances at his own phone. "Why don't we go get coffee or something" he suggests. I nod and let him lead me out. He may be Captain America and he may be a hero, but I don't trust him enough to have my back to him.

The crowd of grinding people is thick and Steve reaches back to grab my hand and help pull me through. I wrench my hand free but continue to follow him. I think about stopping to tell Penny I'm going home but we brush past her and the group anyway. She takes one look at me following Steve like a puppy and sends another smirk my way. My ears burn and I know that in the morning I'm never going to hear the end of this.


End file.
